Symphonie Fantastique

March 9 @ 8pm

Invited to create a brand new work for the Olympic Games in Atlanta, American composer Michael Torke wrote Javelin, a quicksilver overture bristling with electricity and color. Our second piece on the concert will introduce the fabulous young American violinist Simone Porter, who will perform Prokofiev’s mysterious First Violin Concerto as well as Ravel’s whimsical gypsy-influenced miniature called Tzigane. We’ll finish with Frenchman Hector Berlioz’s landmark Romantic Symphonie fantastique, a work vividly chronicling an artist’s obsession with a beautiful Shakespearean actress. From its distant shepherd calls, the tolling of massive church bells, and the fall of the executioner’s guillotine, this music continues to fascinate with its brash statements and beguiling melodies.